Ends tomorrow

The Lower Mainland’s newest online marketplace will open on Monday, April 28, when LikeItBuyItVancouver.com begins previewing a limited-time sale of everything from household goods to consumer electronics to cruises, travel, cars, gift cards and personal services.

mediumfeature

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson wants Premier Christy Clark to promise to make changes to TransLink’s governance structure in hopes the move would bolster the Yes side in the upcoming transportation plebiscite.

I feel for Greg Moore these days. If he had hair, he would have pulled it all out by now. The Port Coquitlam mayor is spokesperson for the Yes side in the transit plebiscite. He’s good at the job. He’s smart. He’s personable. He speaks in whole sentences. He returns phone calls and works the media.

In a transit referendum battle pitting the Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s local representative against a Goliath of political, business and union advocates for the Yes side, Jordan Bateman is the guy with the slingshot.

Something as basic as a working escalator at a SkyTrain station could go a long way to boosting TransLink’s beleaguered image. At least that’s the view of interim CEO Doug Allen, who has been tasked with finding efficiencies at the transportation authority and improving TransLink’s public face ahead of a controversial transportation plebiscite this spring.

Funny story: A couple of weeks ago I was in New Westminster covering the mayors’ vote that finalized TransLink’s campaign for the upcoming plebiscite when TransLink vice-president Bob Paddon sidled up to me and said, brightly (which, in hindsight, is probably the wrong word to use): “Brian! What do you think of the proceedings?”

Momentum for the upcoming transportation plebiscite appears to have swung 180 degrees since December, with more Metro Vancouver residents saying they will definitely vote No when the ballots are mailed out this spring, according to a new Insights West poll.

The rancorous online clamour over TransLink and its bridging deal with ex-CEO Ian Jarvis, over the belated discovery that TransLink’s board of governors can’t be arbitrarily sacked at the whim of some self-appointed flash mob and over severance packages for public servants might lead one to think we’d all be better off in a world where employees had no rights. We’ve tried that. It didn’t work so well, which is why sensible democracies prefer rules — otherwise known as “the law” — to permit these decisions to be made dispassionately and at arm’s length rather than by excitable crowds.

Restoring public confidence in TransLink calls for new policies that have immediate, tangible effects, with benefits for average, and, in particular, low-income Metro Vancouver residents.
Here’s what’s needed:

Several days have passed since TransLink rearranged the deck chairs in its executive offices, and I am still trying to get my head around the motivation for the manoeuvre. The Mayors’ Council, fighting for a Yes in the plebiscite on a new tax for transportation funding, gave this reason for the CEO replacement: “to build public confidence”.

VICTORIA — Amid the fulminations over the shunting aside of TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis this week, it should be noted that there is no way to fire the head of a government agency without paying severance or paying out his contract.

As Metro Vancouver cities ramp up their Yes campaigns for the upcoming transportation plebiscite, the No side says it is starting to capitalize on TransLink’s woes, including the dumping this week of CEO Ian Jarvis. The move, which occurred an hour after Surrey officials called on residents to back the 0.5-per-cent sales tax increase, has helped bolster the No side, said spokesman Jordan Bateman.

There is confusion over who — if anyone — has the authority to fire the appointed TransLink board of directors, the group that oversees a $10-billion regional transportation network in Metro Vancouver. B.C.’s Opposition leader John Horgan, who chastised Transportation Minister Todd Stone for his mismanagement of TransLink during question period Thursday, called on the provincial government to ask the nine-member board to resign, following its surprise decision Wednesday to force out TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis.

Two of the five highest-paid local government employees in the region work for TransLink, including recently departed CEO Ian Jarvis, according to The Vancouver Sun’s exclusive database of public-sector salaries. And both TransLink employees received significant year-over-year pay increases.

It is tough to unravel the logic behind a sudden move by TransLink to throw its CEO Ian Jarvis under the bus on Wednesday, just five weeks before a referendum on the Congestion Improvement Tax. The move was announced by the mayors’ council, reacting to a tsunami of negative commentary about TransLink service as the Yes forces scramble to sell a 0.5-per-cent regional sales tax hike to residents of the Lower Mainland.

TransLink has forced out longtime CEO Ian Jarvis in what it calls a bid to “restore public confidence” ahead of a plebiscite this spring that will ask Metro Vancouver voters to approve a 0.5-per-cent sales tax hike for transportation expansion.